Digital Features

Carey Lohrenz is busy making sure her children have what they need — from a mouth guard for the next lacrosse game to finishing their homework in time for school. If you were to bump into her at the grocery store, she’d probably appear the typical mother of four, keeping up with the demands of ordinary life.

But what the average passerby probably wouldn’t realize is that Lohrenz’s day job was far from normal in the 1990s. While other people headed to an office abuzz with cubicles and people in slacks and dress shirts, Lohrenz suited up in 35 pounds of flight gear before heading to her office in the cockpit of one of the Navy’s most expensive pieces of machinery: the $45 million F-14 Tomcat.

Lohrenz is the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot and a pioneer in military aviation whose story has inspired thousands around the world to go for their goals by not taking no for an answer.

This mindset was indoctrinated in Lohrenz at an early age. The daughter of a United States Marine Corps aviator, Lohrenz, along with her older brother, grew up playing with flight gear from...

Not everyone is a people person. But as Walmart’s new executive vice president of Global People overseeing more than two million associates around the world, Jacqui Canney is one. Canney’s position is far from ordinary, as she runs the nation’s largest private workforce, and her responsibilities are vast, as she oversees the compensation, recruiting, development and retention initiatives, as well as benefits for Walmart associates around the world.

With more than 25 years of human resources experience, Canney brings a seasoned skillset and a diverse background to her new role with Walmart. She’s proving that no challenge is too great in developing the company’s next generation of talent who embody the Walmart way of keeping the customer first.

A native of Hoboken, N.J., Canney grew up near New York City and was raised in a home with her parents; her sister, Nicki, who is 13 months her junior; and her grandmother, who became one of Canney’s earliest mentors.

A German immigrant, Canney’s grandmother had a strong sense of pride and confidence, having raised...